Golden Ears (1716 m)

View North from North Ear

Location: Golden Ears Provincial Park
Driving Time: 2 hr each way from metro Vancouver
Ascent Time: 6 hrs
Complete Time: 11 hours
Start Elevation: 200 m
Max  Elevation: 1716 m

Gunn Scramble #11

Twin summits of Golden Ears are prominent landmark in Lower Mainland and can be seen from countless summits in North Shore mountains. This ascent was on my radar for a long time, possibly since I was 1st time in Vancouver back in mid 90s. After I moved to B.C in 2008 I started planning the ascent, but for one reason or the other never quite got around to do it.  Exceptional weather conditions for Labour Day long weekend finally pushed my buttons. Usual late start --- I entered park gate around 11 am -- brought me to West Canyon Trailhead near south end of Allouette Lake. I started hiking at 11:15 am. 

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Trailhead kiosk. I already knew I would hike back in the dark, but I was quite excited -- finally I am on Golden Ears trail in perfect conditions!

 First objective is to reach Aldar Flats, about 6.5 km along West Canyon Trail. Altitude gain is negligable -- about 200 m -- but the hike is not trivial. First 3 km are along deactivated logging road (plenty of these in BC!), but remainder is classic north shore hodge-podge of crawling over and under the roots, hopping over rocks and generally forest enclosed with no views.  I hurried as much as I could to put this part behind me, yet it took me ~ 1hr 30 mins.  Last kilometer travels through the bog, but boardwalks (in various states of disrepair) facilitate stream crossings.

I took quick break near the campground in the Flats, then proceeded uphill (around the large Outhouse to the right). The trail was well marked, and after one switchback started steady ascent in westerly direction.  Large clearing (right photo) with awesome view of Edge Mountain is some 20 minutes beyond and nicer spot for a break.

Past the clearing the trail re-enters forest and resumes ascent along dry and quite tedious streambed. Critical point is old helipad, about an hour past Aldar Flats (nice bench and great views here). The route turns sharp right and real elevation gain starts.  I had a mishap about 5 minutes past this point -- I was not paying attention to red flagging and took wrong turn. Initially well defined the trail quickly deteriorated, got very steep and eventually disappeared.  I realized I was off route, and lost ~40 minutes backtracking.

Robbie Reid (center) and Judge Howay (left)

Views south-east towards Mt. Baker

Brutally steep trail finally levels off at the start of Panorama Ridge, after gaining ~700 vertical meters in less than 2 km. Fabulous views are more than adequate excuse for a break.

North Ear finally shows up. Ascent line, indicated in red, follows Panorama Ridge past Emergency Shelter bellow permanent showpatch, then climbs the ridge to the summit. The "trail" is still quite an ordeal though; there are still a lot of roots and quite a bit of ups and downs left. At one point well-built wooden ladder assists downclimb small rocky bluff that might otherwise be quite troublesome. Peakbagging in BC North Shore comes with a price!

Half an hour before Golden Ears emergency shelter views really open up -- whole trip is extremely scenic past this point. Pitt Lake dominates western horizon, with distant peaks of Garibaldi Provincial Park on the horizon. This spot is some 4 hours of moderate pace from the Trailhead (2.5 hrs from Aldar Flats).




Golden Ears Emergency Shelter -- quite impressive! I tried, but could not pry open the door though.  Just before the shelter I managed to refill my water bottle from melt streams. The summit is 1 hour of easy/moderate scramble. There is still about 300 vertical to gain from this point. Most people who climb Golden Ears in 2 days camp here.

Most direct route from the shelter climbs steep snow slopes towards summit ridge, then scrambles up small rock chutes to the summit.  I wanted to avoid the snow, so I circled to the left which led me to this part --- Technical crux of the day. Exposed corner on downsloping slab, about 6-7 meters long and 1 m wide. The drop to the right is substantial, and fall would likely be fatal. In dry conditions it is not a big problem.  Photo taken on return.

Emerging victorious to 1716 m North Ear, after about 6 hours from the Trailhead. Summit area is quite wide and offered best views I had to this day in North Shore Mountains.

Edge Mountain and Blanchard Needle look magnificent on left photo. Marginally lower, South Ear (right photo) is only about 30 minutes of easy scramble -- but I was out of time.

Telephoto of distant peaks from the summit: Judge Howay (left) and distinct white cone of Mt. Baker in Washington (right).





There was no summit register, but small memorial plaque and this toy figure was there instead.  I was not sure about the significance -- please let me know if you have more details.











Looking back on my ascent route just before I started heading back around 5:30 pm. Switchbacks from Aldar Flats just right of center, long elbow of Panorama Ridge to the left.  Emergency Shelter is at the start of lower snowpatch, just left of center.The descent was largely uneventful, except from exchanging few words with couple of guys near the Day Shelter -- they were just setting up the camp. I was aware I'd have to hike some part in the dark, but I wanted to make it as minimal and hurried as much as possible. Finally I reached Aldar Flats around 8:30 pm -- half an hour past the sunset. I took out the Flashlight and settled down for tedious crawl under and over the rocks and roots, being careful not to lose the trail -- on several occasions I was glad for orange markers on the trees.

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2 km vertical -- again!

GPS Tracks

The sight of my car at West Canyon parking lot was more than welcome.  It was 10:40 pm -- around 11 hours round-trip, with no more of 45 minutes of cumulative break time! Couple of guys were car camping, but I had no time for chat as I needed to hurry to get out of the park before the gate is closed at 11 pm.  I finally bagged Golden Ears after 2 years in Lower Mainland!